US National Transportation Safety Board investigative report: ‘Poor track conditions’ led to 2021 Amtrak Empire Builder derailment

The NTSB concludes worn rail at the four-bolt rail joints allowed wheel flange contact; this created a condition that resulted in nonuniform and excessive forces on the train and unusual load distributions into the rail, contributing to the wheel climb derailment.”

The report noted that NTSB “has long recommended the FRA [Federal Railroad Administration] create standards related to rail wear. In July 1980, tank cars carrying hazardous materials derailed in Muldraugh, Kentucky. Two tanks carrying vinyl chloride were punctured and their contents burned. An examination of the track curve leading to the derailment disclosed excessive wear. As a result of that investigation, the NTSB recommended the FRA create regulations that designate the limit of acceptable rail wear (NTSB 1981).”

According to the report, “[h]ad the Federal Railroad Administration established rail wear limit regulations, that likely would have required replacement of the worn rail before there was wheel flange contact with the four-bolt joint bar.”

it's really shocking to compare the safety attitudes here between the railroad industry and the aviation industry¹

a train² derailment happened in 1980. it was caused by excessive wear on the rails. they recommended coming up with standards to prevent future derailments caused by it.

and then 40 fucking years happened. and the relevant regulatory body hasn't done shit with that recommendation.

I can't imagine a plane crash that happened in 1980, and had an obvious safety recommendation come out of it, and that the FAA just...sat on. for four decades.

1: the "Plane Crash Series" from Admiral Cloudberg / Kyra Dempsey is a fantastic source for this. here are the Tildes posts of recent articles, you can also go back through the entire archive on Medium or Reddit

2: carrying vinyl fucking chloride, the same toxic chemical that was released in the East Palestine derailment earlier this year

“While none of the three conditions individually could be confirmed to be a condemnable defective condition because the measurements were conducted post derailment, their presence in combination led to the conditions that caused the derailment.”

This feels like double speak to me.